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In this leaflet, ‘Communists say: Victory to the Sparks!’ London communists call for unity in the struggle to build the fighting power of construction workers in a guerilla struggle to maintian their working agreements.

Build the fighting power of the workers – unite the struggles.The Communist Party salutes electricians and construction workers in their epic fight to defend their livelihoods and industry.
Your fight is part of the growing resistance by working people who are being forced to pay for the greed of transnational corporations like Balfour Beatty, their allies in the banks and their stooges in the Con-Dem government.

Why are Balfour Beatty and the other companies attacking your agreements now?The Communist Party is a Marxist party. We understand that capitalism is based on a constant struggle between the capitalist class and workers, a conflict that can never be abolished except by a socialist society.
The construction industry is now dominated by giant transnational corporations that are directly linked to finance capitalism. Companies like Balfour Beatty operate on the basis of financial institutions. They deal in shares from public-private partnership schemes to raise their profits. As with the banks, company directors receive huge payouts linked to short-term share performance.

In 2010, Balfour Beatty made pre-tax profits of £187 million and the CEO Ian Tyler took home a pay package worth almost £1 million.
Now they are attacking national agreements and cutting pay and standards in the construction industry – all to satisfy the bankers and speculators who demand fast results and ever higher profits.
Construction should be leading Britain out of recession. Our country needs hundreds of thousands of new, modern and affordable houses for its people.
Instead the government and the corporations are conspiring to breathe life into the failed private housing market, while transnational construction firms grow fat by focusing on their bottom line, whatever the cost to the workforce and their families.

Build unity and develop the struggle:
Victory in your dispute will raise trade union confidence in the construction industry and inspire workers in other areas of the economy. That means building and preserving the maximum unity in your fight now.
Support for other trade union struggles, in both the private and public sectors, will raise awareness of the need to confront the power of the transnational corporations, the banks and the Con-Dem government.
The Communist Party will do all in its power to support this fight.

Why you should join the Communists:
The Communist Party is not like other parties on the left.
We have a history going back to 1920 and we have always offered principled support and leadership to foster unity and win real advances for the working class.
We have a proud record of militant struggle in the electrical, engineering and construction industries. Now we are looking to rebuild that strength.
The Morning Star, which we founded and support, is the only national daily paper to cover your dispute and all the issues that matter to working people.
Our programme Britain’s Road to Socialism is a unique document that shows how we can create the path to a socialist society.